Find Me/ JS Monroe / 400 pgs

Find Me is a thriller that starts out going in one direction and ends up in a completely different direction. The plot twist was a good one, coming out of nowhere (but in retrospect hinted at). However, and this is a big however, the direction the story ended up going was not one that I wanted to read about. Let me explain.

Jar Costello's girlfriend, Rosa, committed suicide 5 years ago. He loved her deeply and hasn't really got over her death. He's never believed that she died (her body wasn't found). He even imagines that he sees her around London.  Then one day Jar is handed a hard drive by Rosa's aunt and told that there is an encrypted version of Rosa's diary on it. With some help from friends, Jar gets into the diary and soon realizes that Rosa really might be alive and might have become a spy.

So, I'm down with a spy thriller and according to the blurb, that's what I'm reading. But then the plot twist happens and this becomes a whole other kind of thriller and it really wasn't one I wanted to read about (being vague to avoid spoilers but there is violence involving humans and animals). The writing is good and I give points to the author for an innovative, though sometimes unbelievable plot. But in the end (literally) I wasn't happy with this story.

Unbroken/Laura Hillenbrand/400 pgs

This might be the only non-fiction review you see from me all year as I tend to stick to fiction. Unbroken is a biography of Louis Zamperini, an irreverent and high-spirited Italian-American who was on his way to what looked like a spectacular Olympic career as a miler when World War II broke out. Louis became a bombardier in the Pacific theater after the United States entered the war. On a mission to search for a downed plane, Zamperini's own plane crashed into the ocean. He, Russell Phillips, and a third young man named Mac were the only survivors. While Mac died at some point, Zamperini and Phillips managed to stay alive for over 40 days adrift on the vast ocean, only to be "rescued" by the Japanese and taken as POWs. Their time as starved and beaten prisoners/slaves was just as horrific as their time lost at sea. But both survived.

This is an intense story, full of graphic scenes about the horrifying experience of these young men. I appreciated that this story wasn't just about Zamperini, the more famous of the two, but included the heroics and fortitude of Phillips as well. As mentioned, this is certainly not an easy read but a worthwhile one to learn about the "unbroken" spirit of ordinary young men who went off to fight in World War II.